Chocolate Swiss Rolls

Hello my little munchkins?

Guess what the great Eve and I baked today.
Chocolate swiss rolls with a vanilla and cinnamon buttercream filling.
I know, quite a mouthful, eh?
Pun fully intended.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can play around with the flavor of the filling. You can puree strawberries or add peppermint extract. Even some fine instant coffee.

Here's the recipe:

Baking Information:


Oven temperature - 200*C
Baking time - 10-12 mins
Baking tin - 20x20cm or similar dimensions

Ingredients:


For the sponge


50g castor sugar

2 eggs

50g plain flour minus 1 tbsp

1tbsp cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder

For the buttercream filling


75g confectioner's sugar

50g butter

4-5 drops of vanilla essence to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to taste

Set aside enough icing/confectioner's/castor sugar to cover the sponge for later use.

Method:


1. Preheat the oven to 200*C and grease your baking tin.

2. Whisk together the eggs and sugar so that the mixture comes to a point where it is foamy and then becomes creamy and thick. To check, run fork through the mixture, it should leave a temporary trail.

3. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and cocoa. Fold this into the egg/sugar mixture adding a spoonful each time.

4. Once the batter is smooth and of the same color throughout, pour into your tin and ensure that it spreads evenly.

5. Bake 10 - 12 minutes. You'll know when the cake is done if it springs back after you press it lightly with your finger.

6. While your cake is baking, lay out a baking paper and coat it with the extra sugar that you have put aside. The best way to do it is by sieving a layer of sugar all over the paper.

7. After your sponge cake is out of the oven, flip it onto the sugar covered baking paper and quickly roll as the faster you roll, the less likely it is that the cake will crack.

8. Let the cake cool for 1/2 an hour while you make the filling

9. For that, cream butter and sugar until smooth and add cinnamon and vanilla. Mix until incorporated.

10. One the cake has cooled, unroll it and take off the baking paper. Spread the filling generously and roll it back.

11. Slice the beautiful roll with a sharp knife.

Don't worry is your sponge is dry because of the lack of butter, it moistens up with the buttercream and extra sugar that absorbs.

Once the roll is ready, it will be sticky on the outside, it's meant to be that way.

Viola, it's ready to go.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with a Strawberry Filling

Our first blog post.
It's quite exciting. So, I have chosen a recipe that's quite easy and super delicious. Everyone who tried this recipe loved it.

This recipe uses applesauce to bind the flour together for a really smooth batter. The batter is very thick and almost like a dense, sticky dough. However, the whoopie pies turned out really light.
If you don't have applesauce you can always substitute it by blending together equal parts of finely chopped apples and apple juice until the mixture is really smooth.

We've made a strawberry filling but you can make a plain vanilla one, omitting the strawberries. You can also use peppermint extract instead of vanilla or eliminate the strawberries and add some fine instant coffee granules instead.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

For the woopie pie:

1.5 cups flour

0.5 cup cocoa

1tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

0.5 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup applesauce

For the icing:

0.5 tsp vanilla essence (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

0.5 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1.75 cup pureed strawberries (you can add or deduct depending on how sweet the strawberries are and your preferred strength of flavor)


Method


Whoopie pie:


Preheat the oven to 190*C or 375*F


Cream together the butter and brown sugar until the mixture is light and all the sugar is coated with butter. Add the egg and beat it in, with the beater on a low speed.

Mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

Alternately add the flour mixture and applesauce to the flour/sugar/egg mixture alternately and carefully fold them in.
Begin and end this process with the flour.

The batter should be very thick, almost like a dough. Roll the batter into little balls and put them on a baking try lined with baking paper, 1.5 inches away from each other.

Bake for 10-14 minutes.

Filling:


Combine all the ingredients until the filling reaches a nice, smooth consistency.

Once the whoopie pies come out of the oven, generously spread some filling on the flat side of one and then sandwich it with another.